Gov't still reluctant to concede RG to Lukoil consortium

The government will analyze a new program to privatize the oil sector. One of the proposals assumes that there will be only one oil refining center and this would mean that PKN Orlen could potentially acquire the 75% stake in the Gdansk Refinery (RG) which is for sale. President of PKN Orlen Zbigniew Wrobel recently revealed that his company is conducting talks with British Rotch Energy in order to join its consortium and push Rotch away from Russian Lukoil. The initial privatization plan declared that there would be two oil refining and distribution centers, which meant that PKN was not allowed to take part in the tender. Wrobel believes that merging two Polish oil giants is the only realistic way to develop the national oil sector. President of RG Pawel Olechnowicz commented on the news, "According to information from Nafta Polska on the privatization of RG no official change in policy has been made yet". One of the main reasons that the government is hesitant to sell the 75% stake in RG to Lukoil is a fear of becoming dependent on Russian oil supplies. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7) M.M.